September 26, 1983, the day the world nearly ended.
- Thread starter evangilder
- Start date
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Good man!
He should have been promoted and not forced into retirement. Pretty sad that he would be treated that way.
He should have been promoted and not forced into retirement. Pretty sad that he would be treated that way.
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
syscom3
Pacific Historian
I didnt even know this incident happened!!!!
Thanks evans
Thanks evans
- Thread starter
- #5
evangilder
"Shooter"
A lot of people didn't know about it until recently. I found it one of the many stories of heroes of the Cold War that are just starting to trickle out.
wilbur1
Tech Sergeant
Thats a great story Evan thanks 8)
Matt308
Glock Perfection
Reminds me of War Games.
ToughOmbre
Senior Master Sergeant
Never heard about this!Great piece of information Eric.
TO
pbfoot
1st Lieutenant
979 Nov.9: Computer Exercise Tape.
At 8.50 a.m. on 9 November, 1979, duty officers at 4 command centres
(NORAD HQ, SAC Command Post, the Pentagon National Military Command
Center, and the Alternate National Military Command Center) all saw on
their displays a pattern showing a large number of Soviet missiles in a
full-scale attack on U.S.A. During the next 6 minutes emergency
preparations for retaliation were made. A number of Air Force planes
were launched, including the president's National Emergency Airborne
Command Post, though without the president! The president had not been
informed, perhaps because he could not be found.
No attempt was made to use the hot line either to ascertain the Soviet
intentions or to tell the Russians the reason for the U.S. actions.
This seems to me to have been culpable negligence. The whole purpose of
the "Hot Line" was to prevent exactly the type of disaster that was
threatening at that moment.
With commendable speed, NORAD was able to contact PAVE PAWS early
warning radar and learn that no missiles had been reported. Also, the
sensors on satellites were functioning that day and had detected no
missiles. In only 6 minutes the threat assessment conference was
terminated.
The reason for the false alarm was an exercise tape running on the
computer system. U.S. Senator Charles Percy happened to be in NORAD HQ
at the time and is reported to have said there was absolute panic. A
question was asked in Congress. The General Accounting Office conducted
an investigation, and an off-site testing facility was constructed so
that test tapes did not in future have to be run on a system that could
possibly be in military operation.
I was working at a NORAD base in Comox BC in tower and it was something watching the pilots run to the aircraft in all sorts of attire . I don't know if its correct or just bull but we were the only ones to get our birds up of all the NORAD bases. Those techs were good on the F101's
At 8.50 a.m. on 9 November, 1979, duty officers at 4 command centres
(NORAD HQ, SAC Command Post, the Pentagon National Military Command
Center, and the Alternate National Military Command Center) all saw on
their displays a pattern showing a large number of Soviet missiles in a
full-scale attack on U.S.A. During the next 6 minutes emergency
preparations for retaliation were made. A number of Air Force planes
were launched, including the president's National Emergency Airborne
Command Post, though without the president! The president had not been
informed, perhaps because he could not be found.
No attempt was made to use the hot line either to ascertain the Soviet
intentions or to tell the Russians the reason for the U.S. actions.
This seems to me to have been culpable negligence. The whole purpose of
the "Hot Line" was to prevent exactly the type of disaster that was
threatening at that moment.
With commendable speed, NORAD was able to contact PAVE PAWS early
warning radar and learn that no missiles had been reported. Also, the
sensors on satellites were functioning that day and had detected no
missiles. In only 6 minutes the threat assessment conference was
terminated.
The reason for the false alarm was an exercise tape running on the
computer system. U.S. Senator Charles Percy happened to be in NORAD HQ
at the time and is reported to have said there was absolute panic. A
question was asked in Congress. The General Accounting Office conducted
an investigation, and an off-site testing facility was constructed so
that test tapes did not in future have to be run on a system that could
possibly be in military operation.
I was working at a NORAD base in Comox BC in tower and it was something watching the pilots run to the aircraft in all sorts of attire . I don't know if its correct or just bull but we were the only ones to get our birds up of all the NORAD bases. Those techs were good on the F101's
Njaco
The Pop-Tart Whisperer
Check the date....
The Hot Line was busy, Carter was talking to Iran.
As for Petrov,
The Hot Line was busy, Carter was talking to Iran.
As for Petrov,
Good job Petrov. Might or might not've gone to full nuclear war. But the point is, he stopped it before the process could start.
A month or two later, we almost had another nukefest with Able Archer.
Able Archer 83 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
All those spies and nobody analysing the information?
A month or two later, we almost had another nukefest with Able Archer.
Able Archer 83 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
All those spies and nobody analysing the information?
JugBR
Staff Sergeant
o good officer is allways better than a computer parafernalia or a band of fanatic jerkz.
RabidAlien
1st Lieutenant
Look at it this way...if the same had happened in the US (and it probably did, knowing the computers of the day), and an officer had failed to do his duty, we would've run him out of the military on a rail studded with rusty nails. Much much later, when events (and time) would prove the individual correct, any thanks would most likely have been quiet and unannounced. After all, how do you give a medal to a guy who disobeyed a direct and lawful order (at the time)? That's a can of worms you DON'T want to open. In this guy's case, I'm sure he woke up every morning thanking the Lord that, being in Cold War Russia, he was able to wake up every morning.
runningdog
Airman
The moral of the tale would seem to be, if you've got good men, rely on them, not computers..........
pbfoot
1st Lieutenant
i was working when the tape got left in
pbfoot
1st Lieutenant
Nope was working tower when the order came to flush the birds ...panicSo YOU'RE the guy...always wondered who got tagged with that one.
What was the procedure for you guys (tower types) if the balloon went up? After everybody has flown the coop (aircraft that is), do you guys head for the bunkers or just sit there and wait for it?
I think the SOP for the ship I was on was to get underway with anybody around and head down river.
pbfoot
1st Lieutenant
wait for it you got to believe there will be aircraft to recover, diversions inbound etc , you go to a minimum crew and the rest will take up base defence duties , in the tower you tend to be the central clearing house for info , everything from noise ccomplaints to UFO's
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